How to make your heated bed
How to make your heated bed
A simple modification to make your own heated bed with printrbot assembled and a rotary
tool.
Written By: cr3a7ure
INTRODUCTION
With this small guide, i want to share with you the way i made my heated bed.
I got my printrbot working with the motors hooked up, but without the "heat" part. You can
see from the first picture no bed and no extruder are on.
TOOLS:
drill bit (1)
PARTS:
Copper PC Board (1)
rotary tool (1)
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How to make your heated bed
Step 1 — Getting Started
Make sure all of your parts are clean and ready to be assembled.
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Printrbot.
Step 2
Connect the rods to the Base
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How to make your heated bed
Step 3
Complete assemble of rods and base.
Flip Printrbot over.
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Printrbot.
Step 4 — Motor
Make sure you have all the parts for the motor assembly.
Connect Motor to drive.
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Printrbot.
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How to make your heated bed
Step 5
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Printrbot.
Step 6
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How to make your heated bed
Step 7 — Let's Print!
Now that you have a fully assembled Printrbot, you can print another one for your friend.
Here is a link to Thingiverse, where you can download the files to print another Printerbot.
Everyone should thank Brook Drumm for making the files available to all.
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Printrbot.
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How to make your heated bed
Step 8 — How to make your heated bed
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How to make your heated bed
I got the flex shaft from my
rotary tool and placed it with
an angle at the extruder's base in
order to measure the dimensions i
needed to cut the mdf.
It's a plain P type that holds the
back of the "pen".
I had not put the Z-axis on,
just the rods. In order to
keep the X-axis on the correct
height i used 2 pieces of wood with
two screws. In that way the small
wooden pieces would "hug" the Z
rod and the X-axis was lying on
them. I coved the Z motors i order
not to get any copper dust. I
suggest though to mount fully the
Z-axis. I did this in a little time and
many things can go better.
While the front type is tightly tied.
You can use zip-ties or some wire.
You should fit it properly based on
the goemetry.
In order to place it firmly i cut a
small piece from the mdf already
removed, and place it in between
the "pen" and the top of the base.
You can see a small piece of wood
at the photo just in the middle, in
front of the "pen".It was pretty tight
and no wobble from the first test to
the final milled line.
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How to make your heated bed
When you are about to test
it remember to start with the
smallest speed and then
accelerate. Although at 20.000rpm i
had no problem.
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How to make your heated bed
Step 9
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How to make your heated bed
For the milling bit i used a diamond
one. It did the job easily and the
angle offered shallow lines.
The copper board is 15x15cm and
screwed on the base.
Because of the angle the bit cant
access the whole surface. You will
need to mill and then turn it around
and continue the milling.
If you are experienced enough you
can create your own gcode for the
task. I just stayed above it and
gave the motion instructions
through prontereface.
My printrbot wasn't
calibrated neither the bed
was level. So i was counting its
steps when clicking the move
button and i had my fingers on the
wooden base in order to press or
release it to get an even cutting
line. You better level your bed for
sure.
When driving the machine
by hand you should count
the steps and then give them
continously. If the "pen" stops
waiting for your next command it
will drill deeper. Not so bad but you
can avoid it.
Also default speeds at
pronterface are too high! I
can't remember the numbers but i
think it was about 50-100mm/s.
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How to make your heated bed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pU4eKcRYY...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nY8_PYh1H...
Step 10
The outcome wasn't bad at all. But i
made a mistake at the path. When
the drill moves at the Y-axis it
should be lifted in order to create
the right pattern.
Otherwise, you can cut parallel
lines from one end to another and
then solder them.
You can see the levelling
problem clearly.
And the no-movement problem at
the 4th line clearly. There are small
holes every 1mm.
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How to make your heated bed
Step 11
If you choose to mill parallel lines
then you will have to solder them in
a way that they create a zig-zag
path for the current.
Measure the resistance at the two
ends. I got 4ohms and i'm almost
sure i didn't short-circuit any
copper lines.
Solder your cable and give some
power.
At 12V the current is 3A and it will
hit 60-70 in 3-4 minutes or less.
This document was last generated on 2014-08-05 05:41:42 AM.
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